Need some help please

Tblair

Hi there wondered if anybody can help please.

Getting married this April around 50 people are coming. We have everything including a reception venue at £100 hire price sorted except --

Flowers - just me and 1 bridesmaid
Table decorations
Catering - they offer a buffet service but it is an evening buffet rather than throughout the day we are getting married around 1/2pm. Ideally would like a sit down meal but its finding somebody that is quite reasonable in this area (Catterick, North Yorkshire).

Arrival drinks we have been quoted at £4 pp if provide buffet they it will come to £15 pp doesn't sound too bad but it all adds up

We have a budget for the whole thing coming to about £600 after church and reception venue has been paid.

Anybody please help?

savvy

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Fuzzy_Duck

For the flowers it would be a lot cheaper to buy artificial flowers and arrange them yourself into bouquets. You could also think outside the box on this one and do something like a button, brooch or feather bouquet. There's plenty of tutorials out there which may prove inspiring.

Table decorations you don't necessarily need to bother with, especially if the venue is already nicely decorated. Once food and drink is on the table there might not be much space for decorations anyway. You could perhaps do centre pieces in the form of sweet bowls (or some other receptacle) so they double up as snacks/favours, and maybe scatter some confetti around.

Food is a tricky one. A sit down meal will always be quite pricy, as it's a lot more work for the catering company. You're better off providing something more informal, which most people don't consider for weddings- something like a hog roast or those mobile catering vans you see at festivals.

Am I right in thinking you intend to feed people twice? If that's the case I would suggest an afternoon tea which would be very cheap if you sorted it yourself (you can buy sandwich platters and cakes from M&S). Then for the evening you could serve something hot, cheap and filling, such as fish and chips, which would only be around £5 a head I reckon.

As for the welcome drinks, I'd just scrap them entirely if you can't provide your own booze. I don't think people will mind. Certainly when I go to a wedding I expect to buy my own drinks, and I've never expected a welcome drink or wine during the meal.

Stephb1986_2

Afternoon tea sounds great! If you have a costco card or a friend with one you can get ready made sandwiches and cakes from there quite cheaply